


Flying with both feet on the ground

by Gabbeeh



Series: The WinterIron FemTony Wingfic AU [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wings, Arc Reactor Issues, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Getting Together, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 03:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14661978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabbeeh/pseuds/Gabbeeh
Summary: The arc reactor has a serious impact on Toni's ability to fly. She has decided to keep this a secret from her team. Bucky worries.





	Flying with both feet on the ground

**Author's Note:**

> I really shouldn't start a new story before finishing the last one, but well... This is just a one shot so far, but I'd like to make it a series. Basically I wanted to try writing wingfic and decided to combine it with one of my other favorite tropes - fem!Tony.

She came back from Afghanistan a changed woman. Her wings were still beautiful, despite being scarred and missing some feathers. With proper care the feathers shone a deep midnight blue again, contrasting stunningly with her brown eyes. After a decent shower her hair was back to it’s former glory - glossy and smelling like vanilla and hot metal. She could still be described as gorgeous, despite the blue light that shone between her breasts.

 

No, the damage wasn’t aesthetic. While Yinsen did the best he could, and actually put a lot of thought into what future repercussions that surgery might have for her, her chest was still a mess. He managed to save most of her flight muscles, leaving them attached to what was left of her sternum. Said sternum had basically been split in two pieces to make room for the electromagnet, but the magnet, and later the arc reactor housing, was properly fused with the two pieces, interlocking them into a partially metallic sternum. So all things considered, she’d gotten away pretty easy.

 

Thanks to Yinsen’s thoughtfulness and skill, she retained the ability to fly. But with the arc reactor sitting were it was and a damaged heart on top of that, nowadays long-distance flights were a thing of the past. She could barely get from the tower to her favorite coffee shop and back. The heart damage also made her tire easily, something she tried to hide with copious amounts of coffee and waving her hands around while talking a mile a minute. Maybe then no-one would notice that her hands were shaking.

 

The Iron Man suit allowed her to fly how fast and for as long as she wanted. It wasn’t the same, but it was necessary. Especially if she was going to insist on being on a team of superheroes.

 

While all that was well and good - she was Iron Man and had earned her team’s respect, at least on the battle field - at this particular moment in time, she felt rather helpless, staring down at the broken pieces of her suit. The battle had been brutal - for a Doombot-battle - and fortune must have smiled down on them for the worst injury sustained to be Clint’s sprained ankle. But her suit was literally in pieces, and she’d never really told the team about the arc reactors repercussions on her ability to fly without it.

 

”Fury wants a debrief at SHIELD headquarters”, Steve announced and Toni cursed internally, because she _could not_ fly that far.

 

”No”, she said, voice hard. ”I need to figure out how to get the suit back to the tower. We do not want this technology in the wrong hands.”

 

”I’ll help”, Bucky immediately offered. ”It’s really not a good idea to have me and Fury in the same room, when I’m this keyed up, anyway.”

 

”Fine”, Steve concurred. ”You two - deal with this, rest of us - debrief with Fury. Let’s get this over with.”

 

As the rest of the team flew off in the direction of the Triskelion, Tony went back to staring dejectedly at the heap of broken armor on the ground.

 

”I can probably carry this to the tower.”

 

She looked up at Bucky with a confused frown.

 

”It’s a side effect from the serum - I can carry ridiculously heavy things and stay in the air.”

 

She hesitated for a moment.

 

”If you’re sure. ’Cause I sure as hell can’t.”

 

They managed to scrounge up a somewhat intact cargo net and took to the air, Bucky carrying a suit of metal, Toni fighting to carry her own weight.

 

The tower really wasn’t far, but after hours of fighting, Toni was already on the brink of exhaustion. She noticed how Bucky let her decide the pace, watching her worriedly, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Her chest was aching, the flight muscles still left straining to keep her wings beating. She couldn’t seem to breath properly - that would be her diminished lung capacity adding it’s voice to the bitch fest her body was apparently having. She made it to the landing balcony on the common floor, her landing consisting of two running steps to try to slow down before promptly face-planting.

 

”Toni!”

 

There was a loud crash as armor pieces hit the floor, before careful hands - one soft and warm, the other cold and hard - were running over her body, searching for injuries and checking her pulse. The hands turned her over and worried blue eyes filled her line of sight as soft grey feathers enveloped her. His voice started filtering in over the sound of her pulse beating in her ears.

 

”Toni, come on doll, you gotta tell me what’s wrong. I can't find any blood, please don’t be bleeding internally. Hey, come on, talk to me, please…”

 

”M’okay”, she panted and raised a shaking hand to stroke back a strand of hair from his face. ”M’not injured, it’s fine. Just tired.”

 

”Please don’t lie to me, Toni, this is not ’okay’ or ’just tired’. You gotta tell me what’s going on!”

 

She let out a sigh and moved her hand to her chest, tapping the blue glow that shone through her shirt.

 

”Buck, this thing is fused into my sternum. I just don’t have the lung capacity or flight muscles left for long distance flights.”

 

His eyes widened, fixing on the blue glow between her breasts.

 

”How far can you fly?” he murmured, a pained wrinkle between his eyebrows.

 

”On a good day? 1.3 miles.”

 

Bucky did a sharp intake of breath, meeting her gaze. His eyes were filled with worry and empathic pain, but thankfully not pity.

 

”Listen, James. You can’t tell the rest of the team about this.”

 

”But they need to know, or they won’t be able to look out for you.”

 

”They’d pity me! I need them to see me as an equal - as someone who can be trusted to have their backs!”

 

”Then who will have your back?”

 

”You will!” She let out her breath in a rush of air. ”You will. You knowing is enough. You won’t bench me for this and I know you’ll look out for me.”

 

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

 

”Fine. But then I want more information about how that thing affects you. Can’t have your back if I haven’t got my facts straight.”

 

”Fine”, she echoed. ”Let’s move somewhere more comfortable first.”

 

* * *

 

Bucky ended up carrying her to the couch. As she tried to get up, her knees gave out, and Bucky seemed to have had enough as he scooped her up in a princess carry for the short trip to the common room couch.

 

After getting settled on the couch, she told him everything. About the surgery in a cave, about the car battery and making the first arc reactor out of scraps, about building the first Iron Man armor knowing that without it she would never be able to fly far enough to escape. She told him about the compromised lungs, the heart damage and the lost muscle mass she couldn’t seem to get back no matter how hard she trained, how parts of her flight muscles simply didn't exist anymore. She talked about chronic pain and physical therapy, about research into stem cells and transplants and ways to remove the reactor without having to replace her entire sternum. She told him that modern medicine couldn’t do it. Not without rendering her completely unable to fly.

 

And when she stopped talking he kissed her. He told her how sorry he was that that happened to her, and how strong he thought she was and how much he admired her. He told her that he couldn’t stop thinking about her - hadn’t been able to for a while now - and that she was free to reject his advances if she didn’t feel the same way. Then he kissed her again and laughed against her lips at how eagerly she responded.

 

When the rest of the team got back to the tower, they found Toni and Bucky cuddling on the couch, watching some mindless show and lovingly preening each other’s wings. They were wise enough not to comment - though Clint looked like he desperately wanted to.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
